Djibouti
The Republic of Djibouti is located at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, along the strategic coastline between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. It is bordered by Eritrea on the north, Ethiopia on the west and south, and Somalia on the southeast. Djibouti covers an area of 23,000 square kilometers (8,958 square miles), consisting mainly of volcanic waste area with very little arable land. The climate is semi-arid to arid with very high temperatures and humidity during the monsoon seasons.
The population of Djibouti was estimated around 467,000 in 2004. About 60 percent of the population is concentrated in the capital city of Djibouti; most of the rest of its residents are nomadic herders. The indigenous population is about evenly distributed between the Issa, who are of Somali origin, and the Afar, who are also found in Eritrea and Ethiopia. The Afar live in the northern part of the country, and the Issa inhabit the southern part. The Port of Djibouti, which is connected by a railway line and an all-weather road to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is the major source of income for Djibouti's economy.
Djibouti had been a French colony since 1862. In 1977, following a referendum, it became independent, and Hassan Gouled Aptidon (b. 1916), a senior Issa politician, became the president of the Republic of Djibouti. Gouled formed a new political party, the People's Progress Assembly, and Gouled and his party dominated Djibouti government for the next fifteen years.
In 1986, Aden Robleh Waaleh, a former cabinet minister and political associate of Gouled, formed an opposition party known as the National Djiboutian Movement for the Restoration of Democracy. In 1991, the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy, a new opposition group made up of three insurgent Afar movements, launched a full-scale insurrection demanding political representation. In response, Gouled appointed a commission in 1992 to draft a new constitution to restore a multiparty system and to provide free elections. In May 1993, he won reelection to office in elections held under the new constitution. In 1999 Gouled announced that he would not seek reelection, and Ismael Omar Guelleh (b. 1947), the president's nephew and principal advisor, succeeded him, winning the presidential elections held in April 1999.
(MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/THE GALE GROUP)According to the constitution, the executive power of the government is vested in the president, who is directly elected for a six-year term and may serve for no more than two terms. The Council of Ministers is responsible to the president. The legislative power is held by the Assemblé nationale (National Assembly), consisting of sixty-five members elected for five-year terms. The judicial system is headed by the Cour Supreme (Supreme Court), followed by a high court and a court of first instance located in Djibouti. The legal system is based on French civil law, traditional practices, and Islamic law. According to Freedom House, Djibouti's scores for political rights, civil liberties, and freedom have increased over the last several years, recovering from abysmal scores in the 1990s. But Djibouti is still rated as only a "partly free" nation.
Because of Djibouti's strategic significance along the busiest sea route transporting Arab oil from Middle East to the West, France has long maintained a strong military and technical presence in Djibouti, and the United States established a base in Djibouti in 2002.
Mulatu Wubneh
Shari'a.
Bibliography
Alwan, Daoud A., and Yohanis Mibrathu. Historical Dictionary of Djibouti. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2000.
Alwane, Ebo Houmed. "Djibouti: Tensions Socio-Politiques sun Fond de Succession." Afrique Politique (1997):85–109.
"Djibouti." In CIA World Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2005. <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publicat ions/factbook/geos/dj.html>.
Dubois, Colette. Djibouti 1888–1967: Heritage or Frustration? Paris: Edition L'Harmattan, 1997.
Freedom House. "Djibouti." Freedom in the World 2004. New York: Freedom House, 2004. <http://www.freedomhouse.org/res earch/freeworld/2004/countryratings/dji bouti.htm>.
Makinda, Samuel M. Superpower Diplomacy in the Horn of Africa. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987.
Schraeder, Peter J. "Ethnic Politics in Djibouti: From 'Eye of the Hurricane' to 'Boiling Cauldron.'" African Affairs 367 (1993):203–221.
Thompson, Virginia, and Richard Adloff. Djibouti and the Horn of Africa. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1968.
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